Introduction to Computing

Lecture 6

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 The Internet
• The Internet is a worldwide collection of networks
that links millions of businesses, government
agencies, educational institutions, and individuals

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 Evolution of the Internet
The Internet originated as ARPANET
in September 1969 and had two main goals:

Allow scientists at
Function even if part of
different physical
the network were
locations to share
disabled or destroyed
information and work
by a disaster
together
 Connecting to the internet
• Wired
Connections
– attaches via
a cable or
wire to
modem
• Wireless
connections
– Builtin
technology
– Wireless
modem
(dongle)

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Popular Broadband Internet Service
Technologies

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• Wireless hot spot is a wireless network that provides
Internet connections to mobile computers and devices.

• Mobile Wi-Fi hot spot via a separate communications

device or a tethered Internet-capable device.

• Tethering transforms a smartphone or Internet-capable

tablet into a portable communications device that
shares its Internet access with other computers and
devices wirelessly.

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 Internet Service Providers
• An Internet service provider (ISP), sometimes called an Internet
access provider, is a business that provides individuals and
organizations access to the Internet free or for a fee.
• ISPs often charge a fixed amount for an Internet connection,
offering customers a variety of plans based on desired speeds,
bandwidth, and services.
• Bandwidth represents the amount of data that travels over a
network. A higher bandwidth means more data transmits. Data
sizes typically are stated in terms of megabytes and gigabytes.
• A megabyte (MB) is equal to approximately one million characters,
and a gigabyte (GB) is equal to approximately one billion characters.

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 Internet Service Providers
• A mobile service provider, sometimes called a wireless
data provider, is an ISP that offers wireless Internet
access to computers and mobile devices with the
necessary built-in wireless capability (such as Wi-Fi),
wireless modems, or other communications devices
that enable wireless connectivity.
• An antenna on or built into the computer or device,
wireless modem, or communications device typically
sends signals through the airwaves to communicate
with a mobile service provider.

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Data Usage Examples

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 IP Addresses and Domain Names
• An IP address, short for Internet Protocol address, is a
sequence of numbers that uniquely identifies the location
of each computer or device connected to the Internet.
• The Internet uses two IP addressing schemes: IPv4 and
IPv6.
• The IPv6 scheme increased the available number of IP
addresses exponentially. Because lengthy IP addresses can
be difficult to remember, the Internet supports domain
names.
• A domain name is a text-based name that corresponds to
the IP address of a server that hosts a website
• A domain name is part of the web address that you type in
a browser’s address bar to access a website.

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• The suffix of the domain name, called the top-level domain (TLD), identifies the
type of organization associated with the domain.
• The organization that approves and controls TLDs is called ICANN (pronounced
EYE-can), which stands for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
• For websites outside the United States, the suffix of the domain name may include
a country code TLD (ccTLD), which is a two-letter country code, such as au for
Australia.

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 Domain Name System (DNS)
• The domain name system (DNS) is the method
that the Internet uses to store domain names and
their corresponding IP addresses.
• When you enter a domain name (i.e.,
google.com) in a browser, a DNS server translates
the domain name to its associated IP address so
that the request can be routed to the correct
computer.
• A DNS server is a server on the Internet that
usually is associated with an ISP.
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